half, a dramatic transition has begun. as a dictatorship of five decades has loosened its grip. >> president says his visit is not an endorsement of the regime, but an acknowledgement of a reform process. "cnn newsroom" continues right now with deb feyerick. hey, deb. >> thanks so much, suzanne. i'm deborah feyerick in for brooke baldwin. and we begin with the escalating crisis in the middle east as violence rages between israel and militants in gaza. more casualties, more deaths, fatalities doubling over the last day. gaza's rocket strikes which hit israel's two largest cities, jerusalem and tel aviv, have brought a swift and powerful response. israel is focused on taking out hamas' iranian supplied rockets which can travel up to 45 miles, the farthest ever. hamas has been firing rockets for years as a way to end israel's blockade of supplies

into gaza. terms of a potential cease-fire are being brokered by egypt, turkey and qatari officials. israeli defense forces targeted a media building in gaza, aiming at four senior hamas operatives they believed were inside. and two people died. it is not clear if they were the ones designated as the hamas targets. hamas, which grew out of the muslim brotherhood, seized in our gaza in 2007. since then, the group has become increasingly militarized. the death toll stands at 100 in gaza including women and children. and three in israel. any others have been wounded on both sides.

israel credits its anti-missional defense system known as the iron dome funded by the united states for its low number of deaths. cnn's frederick platkin was live when the system intercepted a rocket midair. >> there, over in the sky, you probably won't be able to see it here, there is an interceptor missile taking off now. that's the iron dome interceptor. if you saw the flash in the sky, that was a rocket coming out of gaudia that was just intercepted right now. >> despite back and forth rocket and missile launches, there is a behind the scenes optimism that a cease-fire might be close. one egyptian intelligence official says israel's prime minister has received a letter detailing conditions hamas would agree to in order to end the attacks. cnn anchors and reporters witnessed strikes up close, including anderson cooper hours ago. >> whoa. >> israel says it is mobilizing as many as 30,000 ground troops

with more reservists on stand by. hamas is not backing down according to one of its leaders, firing more than 1,000 rockets into israel in the last six days according to israeli officials. let's get to what is happening in israel. fred platkin is on the border of gaza. we saw a clip of you's rocket was intercepted during your report. had there been any breaks in the strikes fired from gaza into israel? >> reporter: well, certainly have seen some breaks in between there. its is subsided now somewhat in the evening hours. the worst time of the day was during the late afternoon hours when there was a barrage of rockets fired into the town that we were in at that point and time. there have been some strikes throughout the day also here in the town of ashkelon. several rockets fired on to ashkelon were intercepted by the iron dome interceptor system. there were two rockets that actually made it through that screen and landed in the residential areas here in

ashkelon, damaging two houses. the reports that we're getting is that no one was injured in those of the right now, it appears to be fairly quiet. that's a pattern that we have been seeing. yesterday was fairly quiet. at least in the later hours. i would say by and large the rocket fire that is coming from gaza today is a little less intense than it was yesterday. however, there are phases when a lot of garages of rockets still are fired over here and when you can also see, especially that iron dome interceptor missile, really in full swing, launching interceptor missiles by the minute, picking off rockets in midair. of course, some of them still make it through and that's something israeli authorities always say is that you shouldn't get a false sense of security, there are still rockets that will land on towns here in israel outside of gaza, deborah. >> fred, at its worst, when you're in the middle of it, how often would you say the sirens were going off, because we have seen you right there on the front lines, how often were the sirens going off telling you to seek shelter? >> reporter: i can tell you about this morning, for

instance. we were in beer sheva this morning and had several siren alarms go off there while we were in there and had several impacts. then we moved to another location. there was mortar fire that we had to get away from where we had to hit the deck several times. then we went to another location and another village and there were rocket attacks there as well and sirens that went off. you have to watch out where you're going. at the worst of times it really happens very, very frequently. yesterday we were actually in the vicinity of one of these iron dome batteries and we could just see it picking off targets right above us. i remember one particular barrage that went past, we were laying on the ground, just looking up in the sky and you could see puffs of smoke from where it was picking off the rockets and it was at least a dozen rockets that came by that were picked off and, of course, some of them do make it through. but the worst of times, these barrages can be quite bad and they can be quite scary. for the people on the ground, especially for the children, who are witnessing this year, in these areas, deb. >> what is so fascinating is that you talk about israel says it has -- it is firing in

retaliation and in order to wipe out the stockpiles of these rockets and they're launching the ground offensive, apparently in order to get to the site of the launchpads. have you seen any of the -- any of the israeli forces that have been called up by any chance? >> reporter: oh, certainly. if you go around the border area, you will see a massive military buildup. we were just here, tens of thousands of reservists are on stand by. tens of thousands of troops have already been called up. if you go into the area of southern israel, near the gaza borde border, you'll see the trucks going past there, trucks with tanks on them, armored personnel carriers, armored bulldozers as well. this heavy equipment is brought to collection points that are growing, really, by the hour here. you see the military buildup is in full swing. and obviously that army that is gathering down there is getting closer to being ready to go at any point and time. the israeli government is saying in decision has yet been made on whether or not there is going to be a ground offensive. there is all this talk about a

possible cease-fire, about a possible truce, but the israeli government has said, it is both willing and capable to escalate the operation that is going on and possibly launch a ground offensive. and from what we're seeing on the ground in that area, it seems they're very serious, deb. >> all right, fred for us in israel. thanks so much, in ashkelon, thank you. now to what is happening in gaza. the area is just 25 miles longer, so and densely packed with 1.7 million people living there. today, one family buried ten members, children among them, following an israeli air strike. ben wedeman spoke to the survivors. what did they say to you? >> reporter: well, you know, deborah, when you go to the funerals you go to the houses there around that house that got hit, there is a mixture of things. in public, there is anger, there is a desire for revenge, there are sort of chants against israel. but privately these people are suffering.

they have suffered incredible losses, incredible shock. i was at the cemetery where the members of this family were buried. and there were a lot of people, onlookers, supporters, coming to -- they see it very much within the context of the conflict with israel, but if you waited around afterwards, you saw small groups of people silently praying and crying over the graves, over the loss of loved ones. and people are very upset about what has happened. happened to this family and is happening around gaza city and elsewhere in this strip. but at the same time, people are scared. they're afraid this war could escalate, that israeli forces could come into gaza and even more people will be killed. many people here really feel sort of caught between hamas on the one hand and israel on the other. and there is not an awful lot they can do other than pray, hope and hide.

deborah? >> and, ben what is interesting, when you talk about the people caught up in the middle, do they support hamas? are these palestinians who clearly are resigned to living in the gaza region because they have got no place else to go? how do you describe the folks there? >> reporter: well, really they have nowhere to go. and this is the thing, i've covered conflicts where if there is a war, people can go somewhere. they can flee. there is no escape from gaza. and there is a sense of sort of resignation. i wouldn't call it hopelessness, or helplessness, but resigned to the fact there is nowhere to go. do people support hamas? yes. a fair number of people here in gaza do. but you to keep in mind, in the 2006 parliamentary elections, in fact, gaza did not win a majority in the -- i mean, hamas did not win a majority in gaza. its rival, fattah, did. there are people with an obvious interest in hamas and support

it. but many people would support anybody who could guarantee their dignity, their freedom, and some peace because more than anything, people need peace, they need jobs, they need to get back to a normal life. and for gaza, a real normal life is something most people have simply never known. >> sure. and a life free from fear for everyone. let's talk about the negotiations, hamas leader sounds like he's taking a hard line, but we're also hearing there could be a cease-fire soon. what are you hearing, ben? >> reporter: i just got off the phone a little while ago to a senior hamas official who is involved in the contacts that are going on between hamas to egypt, from egypt to israel. and they are discussing a cease-fire, sending messages back and forth. hamas says they have sent a draft proposal for a cease-fire through egypt to israel. they're hoping to get a response

either tonight or sometime early tomorrow morning. and now there are sticking points, however. one of the sticking points is the question of buffer zones. the israelis want buffer zones around the gaza strip to prevent anybody getting near to the border. but as you mentioned before, gaza is very small. it is basically twice the size of washington, d.c. if there is a large buffer zone that means lots of agricultural land will be simply out of operation. on the other hand, israel also wants a complete end to arms smuggling. hamas isn't necessarily opposed to that, at least in theory, but their attitude is they do not control every militant group in gaza. there are others like islamic jihad which to a certain extent are out of hamas' control and therefore hamas is hesitant to make any sort of guarantees about an end to the smuggling of arms into gaza. deborah? >> sure. certainly a region where every square inch counts.

ben wedeman, thanks so much. well, coming up at the top of the how anderson cooper hosts special coverage of this conflict live from gaza. that's 3:00 p.m. eastern, right here on cnn. and up next, as truce talks with under way in egypt, anger on the border, protesters furious and they're taking their flight to a narrow strip of land that borders gaza. we're going to be taking you there. as the conflict escalates, looks like oil prices are doing the same. stay right here. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus presents the cold truth.

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so i brought it to mike at meineke. we gave her car a free road handling check. i like free. free is good. my money. my choice. my meineke. cairo to istanbul, anger erupting over the latest conflict involving israel and hamas. these pictures come to us from indonesia, more than 5,000 people march through the streets of jakarta sunday, protesting israeli air strikes. the crowd marched to the u.s. embassy carrying flag and posters condemning israel. let's turn to egypt and a narrow strip of land that borders gaza. the rafa border, that's the crossing, this is gaza's only gateway to an arab ally. let's turn from this map to what is happening on the ground. the rafah crossing has become a dangerous place to be.

it is a major crossing point for protesters and for those who are trying to smuggle weapons and supplies into gaza. israel says it is bombing smuggling tunnels that run under rafah. the border crossing is clogged with anti-israel protesters, trying to gain access to gaza. reza sayah reports. >> reporter: this is where egypt's border meets gaza. gaza is a small piece of land, about twice the size of washington, d.c. it has four gateways, three of them are inside israel. they're pretty much blocked off in an effort by israel to choke off gaza. this is the only one that leads from gaza into an arab ally. that's egypt. while the air assault continues in gaza, while the violence increases, what increased here is the anger by egyptians who

want egypt and the government to step up and intervene. >> the people have changed. we have changed and we're not going to take that -- we're not going to wait for the government. we're going to take things in our hands and we're going to lead the government into certain position that is required for egypt. >> reporter: there is roughly 500 protesters here. they made a seven-hour journey from cairo. now they lined up down the street. each of them are showing their identifications to security forces and then heading into gaza. we have asked them when do you think you'll come back? they say, we don't know. we're just happy we're going in. are you scared? >> yeah, i mean, absolutely i'm scared. you hear bombs. you don't know what you're going in there for, but i think that's -- i think that's what we got to do. you have to be scared and overcome that fear by going in there. >> reporter: as more demonstrators continue to file into gaza, back in cairo, the arab league, a group of 22 arab states has announced that on tuesday they're going to send in more than two dozen arab foreign

ministers into gaza. this is part of the arab league's push to publicly stand with the palestinians. also in cairo, egypt's spy chief, in talks with hamas officials and israeli officials trying to establish a cease-fire. this is the same spy chief that in 2011 helped secure the release of israeli soldier jilad shalit. if there is a cease-fire, the spy chief will play a key role. reza sayah at the border crossing. the escalating conflict in the middle east is pushing oil prices higher. we find out what that can mean for gas prices at the pump. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours.

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so check this out. a tv crew making a fishing show captured on camera the spectacular blast from that deadly oil rig explosion friday. >> holy [ bleep ]. look at that! something just blew up. >> yeah, it did. >> now, it happened off louisiana in the gulf of mexico. 11 people were badly injured. one person was killed. another person is still missing. and we still don't know what caused that blast. one sign of progress in storm ravaged new york city, the brooklyn battery tunnel officially known as the hugh l.

carey tunnel, it reopened today. cars are allowed. trucks are still banned. the tunnel seen here a couple of weeks back was shut down due to flooding from superstorm sandy. traffic that is usually bad in that area was made even worse following the tunnel closure. and stocks are rallying on wall street on the first day of trading this holiday week. helping send them higher to better than expected reports on housing. those gains could be tempered by the spiraling violence in the middle east and what it means for oil prices. maribel auber joins us live from new york. what's go on? >> major averages surged out of the starting gate and never looked back. the dow is up by 168 points now. that's mainly thanks to optimism that fiscal cliff talks are progressing. wall street has been expecting a deal to come at the very last minute. so, deb, it is great news that things seem to be moving along faster than expected. also in focus today, existing home sales rose more than 2%

last month and home builder confidence rose to a six-year high. that's that's helping ad to the gains we're seeing as we go into the final two hours of the session. oil prices, what oil prices are jumping 3% today because of violence in the middle east. >> and so what does that mean? we were talking in our meeting today and somebody said the gas -- the price of gas jumped by 9 cents. what is everyone going to see over the next couple of days, couple of weeks? >> the right question. here is the thing, deb, unless it is a sustained increase, prices at the pump shouldn't be affected. remember, except for the last few days, oil prices that have been trending down. take a look at the chart. it shows the past three months, oil prices are down from $100 a barrel in september, with only a slight uptick at the end of the chart reflecting the current fighting in the middle east. but it is not enough to outweigh the sell-off we have seen since october, long-term analysts expect oil to keep falling because of the weak global economy. and let's take a step back, deb. israel and the gaza strip is not big oil producers.

so investors are trading on fear and the possibility of what could happen. they're thinking about the fighting, possibly spreading to neighboring countries which are major oil exporters. but analysts are quick to point out there is plenty of oil in the market. it is oversupplied because world oil production is rising. so oil prices are up today, but we're still hopeful about the long-term view. >> maribel, thanks so much. appreciate it. there are many layers to the conflict between israel and hamas militants. we'll talk about how other countries in the region, especially iran and egypt, have a hand in in the only the hostility, but also the solution. my doctor told me calcium

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city where sunday's air strikes left 31 dead in the bloodiest day so far in this conflict. arwa damon reports from a neighborhood trying to dig out from under the rubble, the chaos and the death. >> reporter: the large slab of concrete and mangled metal finally gives way. buried beneath it, another lifeless body. it is the second child we have seen. there was also a baby. others in the neighborhood say the blast killed all ten people who lived here. israel says it was target iing person who heads a rocket launching unit. people we spoke to said they never heard of him. this was a family home. people here are telling us so far those who have been killed in this strike have been women and children. and they have not been able to find any survivors. just moments ago, from that back corner they did pull out the body of a tiny child. and over here there is another

frantic effort under way. tempers easy flare as frustration and anger mount. she's my uncle's wife, this young man shouts. rage, coupled with sorrow, etched across his face. this is where she lived. her elderly body finally dug up and carried away. there are no air raid sirens or bunkers in gaza. this strike came with no warning. the rescue efforts are not always so hopeless. not far from here, just the day before, 11-month-old ahmed and his 4-year-old sister both survived a multiple missile strike on their home. when the roof collapsed, it somehow formed a protective arch over us, the children's mother says. for about 45 minutes, i thought

i was going to suffocate. my leg was stuck. people could hear me screaming, but they couldn't do anything, she tells us. in between her cries, fears that her children were dead. this is what the building looks like now. the rubble that was clear to save the family of ten piled back into the lot that was their home. i will never forget what happened, she says. i will die imagining it. i can't believe it. i can't believe these are my children. i tell myself, they are not my children. i can't imagine how they survived. i feel like i'm not myself. i can't believe that i am alive, talking to you, breathing. she tells us she wants revenge, but more than that, she wants peace. she says there is no good that comes with war. arwa damon, cnn, gaza city. just unroll it, fill, top,

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israeli troops near gaza are awaiting orders for a possible ground invasion. they immobilized reservists and massed hundreds of tanks near gaza. british foreign secretary william hague is among those warning the israelis not to launch a ground offensive. he says invading gaza would cost the israelis international sympathy. the white house says it is up to israel to decide whether to enter gaza to try to stop rocket attacks against the israelis. well, like anything in the middle east, nothing is ever simple as it appears. a major player in this conflict is iran. which has been supplying hamas with long range rockets and training hamas commanders how to fire from underground launch sites. here what he is israeli prime minister -- i'm sorry, israeli president shimon peres had to say to iran with our piers morgan. >> obviously' serious situation escalating by the hour now. how do you see this resolving

itself? >> well, there is an attempt to introduce a cease-fire. we have a positive. the positive is the constructive war that the egyptian president is playing right now and we appreciate very much his efforts. the other one is the iranians. they are trying again to encourage hamas to continue their shooting, the bombing, they are trying to send the bombs. >> if you believe, mr. president, that iran is behind a lot of the hamas terror activities, as you put it, then what action do you intend to take against iran? >> not that i guess so, i know that is the case. and we're not going to make a war with iran, but we are trying

to prevent the shipping of long range missiles, which iran is sending to hamas. >> and that's israeli president and former prime minister shi m mon peres talking to piers morgan. joining me from houston, former united states diplomat ed dredgen, served as u.s. ambassador to israel and ambassador to syria. mr. ambassador, iran, by having hamas really as a militant proxy in gaza, in many respects they can keep israel in check should israel decide it wants to go after iran's nuclear program because not only would israel potentially get it from iran, they could also potentially get it from sympathizers in gaza as well. what are your thoughts? >> no question that iran has been furnishing and providing these rockets to hamas. so therefore they are a key player in the military

capabilities of hamas and other groups, such as palestinian islamic jihad in gaza. i think we have to make a distinction between the crisis in gaza and the -- the issue of iran developing nuclear weapons. they're distinct, but separate issues that have to be dealt with. nevertheless, i think this crisis in gaza, the worst case scenario is that israel feels compelled to do a land invasion of gaza. if it does so, it will be the death toll, the injuries will be very high, and it will be very destabilize and will really put a stress on key relationships israel has including with egypt, which is critical. let's not forget egypt and israel have a peace treaty dating back to 1979. >> you know, when we look at this potential land invasion,

israel would argue that they have got to get rid of the stockpile of weapons, the warheads, the long range rockets, the rockets that are less long range. they appear to feel they have done that through these, you know, their own air strikes. now it seems they're going in to get the launch sites and these really -- these underground tunnels. do they have a valid argument as to why they would have to go in, with ground troops? >> well, it is all relative. i think the israelis have succeeded in really diminishing hamas' rocket capabilities in a substantial way during the last many days of fighting and air strikes. but let's step back a bit here. we see this play enacted time and again. and a crisis erupts between

gaza, hamas and israel, there are military incursions. there is a minor war that is launched between the two sides, the gazans or the hamas' military capabilities are diminished for a while, and then they restock, they restore, there are new incidents and the same play is enacted. there is no military solution to this issue. the only solution, the only solution as ideal as it may sound, is that israel and the palestinians including hamas and fattah come to a peace agreement. it is the only structural way out. >> so when we talk about a cease-fire, sir, very quickly, i know it is very difficult to bullet point anything when it comes to this particular region, but what terms for cease-fire would be acceptable to hamas and what would be acceptable for israel, for example? what are the two things that have to happen on each side?

>> okay. well, for the israelis, the key is that all rocket attacks and fire against israeli targets cease immediately and that that cease-fire is sustained over time. that is the key israeli requirement. for hamas, they would like to have the israelis lift the siege of gaza, open up the borders that gaza has with egypt, for example, and to have all israeli attacks and targeted attacks against hamas leaders stopped. those are the two key requirements on both sides. >> okay. and ambassador dredgen, thank you so much. we really appreciate your insights on this certainly not easy, hopefully we'll get the cease-fire before the peace will happen. thank you so much. the northeast is still cleaning up from superstorm sandy. and as people gut their damaged homes, all the debris has to go somewhere. for now, much of it is sitting

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superstorm sandy and the magnitude of damage it left behind is almost beyond imagination. tons and tons of garbage, furniture, carpeting, belongings, waste have been hauled away from homes and city sanitation workers have been on the clock 24/7 since the storm hit. they're the ones who are really emerging as heroes. joining me to talk about the daunting cleanup effort and where it all stands is new york city sanitation commissioner john doherty. and, commissioner, first of all, have you ever seen anything like it? >> in my lifetime, in the city, and it has been quite a few years, i've never seen anything. this is the worst natural disaster this city has ever seen in my lifetime. >> what is so incredible is that people didn't just lose, for example, a couple of belongings.

they lost the entire first floor, their basements, and everything in it, including drywall and insulation. and were it not for the sanitation workers, arguably, i think new york city would be buried under debris and it would be a significant public health epidemic. talk to me about that. >> well definitely a major problem in a city like that. i think we're fortunate and in a better position than most cities because we have our own sanitation department that could -- has the number of people, has the equipment and the skills to handle something like this. i mean, we had to start off running on tuesday morning after that storm going out assessing the debris that was out there, and our first step was to make sure the streets could get opened up. a lot of debris was thrown out into the roadways around the city. and that was our first project. then we started figuring out, okay, how are we going to store it? we have predetermined areas to

store debris from something like this happening. but once we realized how much it was amounting to, we had to quickly make decisions. i remember i was working on staten island evaluating what they had out there, and there was a park apartment site not on the list, i said, open it up and start unloading there. another site i had to cut the lock on a gate leading to an open field. these are the things you sometimes have to work on really quick in order to get the debris away from the streets, away from the homes, to an area where you can then later move it to its final disposal point. >> what is incredible, is there any way to gauge how many tons of debris you move, because i was out there and i saw the massive trucks. they were just lined up down the block, truck, after truck. one of the people on site, maybe from the army corps of engineers, told me each of those trucks can fit something like 80,000 pounds or something like that. do you know how much the debris actually ultimately will weigh? look at how enormous those

things are. >> based en what we picked up today, many of these are estimated weights because we didn't go over the scale with them yet. we estimated we picked up as of yesterday about 265,000 tons of debris. and on top of that, you've got your garbage that we continue to pick up and the recycling we had to delay for a while, but are picking up now around the city. so there was a lot of work between maintaining the day to day operation, and then taking on the herculean job of handling and disposing of the waste that was generated for the storm. >> and just quickly, then, what we're seeing now, those are people's homes, that's debris from people's homes, but cars, something like a quarter of a million cars completely totaled, total loss. what is going to happen to those cars? >> well, the police department is -- has a contract now through fema and they have a contract company removing the cars and putting them in parking areas near where the cars were picked up. so that people who want to claim

them or haven't had a chance to have the insurance company look at them can go and find them. that was a big step getting that done. and, today, we started removing a lot of boats that were blocking streets and in blocking it -- and in some cases into people's homes. they're starting to remove them also and put them in the proper storage locations. >> just remarkable. i mean, you think you've seen a lot and then you see something that is just insurmountable. sanitation commissioner john doherty. i know a lot of your men and women have been getting standing ovations wherever they go. so good job. thank you for joining us today. >> thank you, deb. well, it is a case of too many patients and not enough doctors. find out why access to health care and some cities is nearly impossible. forcing many patients to turn to emergency rooms instead. rustrat. so at university of phoenix we're working with a growing list of almost two thousand corporate partners - companies like microsoft, american red cross and adobe - to create options for you.

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as america's population gets older and needs more medical care, the number of doctors is dwindling and in nevada, the doctor shortage is becoming critical. some patients are waiting months to get an appointment. cnn's casey wian reports on what is becoming quickly a very national crisis. >> reporter: george hobs rheumatoid arthritis pain was manageable. he had a job until one day last year. >> all of a sudden, one morning when i woke up, it was like i thought i had a stroke or something. my feet, my knees, my hands, i couldn't get out of the bed. i wasn't able to even dress myself. >> reporter: he called his arthritis doctor, but the office

was closed. hobs didn't know his doctor was semiretired, only seeing patients three days a week. >> i was told there is only five places to go in vegas. and i tried three other ones, and the waiting period was three to four months. >> reporter: a trip to the er provided little relief. >> three times in the last year where i couldn't get out of bed for two days, three days, i actually prayed that i wouldn't live. and that's for me was the low point. >> reporter: it is a growing problem for baby boomers. >> for dr. furman, we are booking to mid-january. >> reporter: they need care more often, but doctors themselves are aging and retiring and medical schools aren't producing enough replacements to keep pace. by 2020 the united states faces a projected shortage of nearly 92,000 doctors. according to the association of medical colleges. that's seven times worse than the shortage that existed just two years ago. >> the access to health care is

clearly affected. people wait longer to see their physicians for everyday kinds of illnesses, those illnesses get worse, and then by the time you see a physician, you might need to be admitted to a hospital. >> reporter: it might put your life in jeopardy. margo johnson had a stroke last year, linked to a rare autoimmune disease. she was referred to dr. foreman, a specialist. >> it was four, five months down the road before dr. foreman could see me and even with my neurologist intervention, he was only able to move it up a week. >> that had to be kind of scary. >> i could have died. >> reporter: margo is improving thanks to proper treatment and so is george hobs, but their doctor says the shortage of physicians is likely to worsen, partly because of the 2010 health care reform law. >> you're going to have a large number of individuals who now have health care insurance, who is going to take care of them. >> reporter: the law also prize

fu -- for some baby boomers, the prescription may come too late. casey wian, cnn, henderson, nevada. >> whoa. >> and up next, as explosions rock gaza city, anderson cooper is there live bringing you special coverage next hour. stay right here with us. ♪ ♪ ♪

no question, israel is by far the superior military power in this conflict with hamas. there is growing concern that gaza's arsenal of rockets is getting more deadly and more accurate. cnn's tom foreman gives us a virtual look at what each side brings to the battlefield. >> reporter: global firepower.com has called israel the tenth most powerful military in the world. let's break that down and see why. they have compulsory military service. that means every young person must go into the military for a while. 176,000 active troops are

available. and they have about half a million what they call from reserves very quickly. ground forces also impressive. some 3,000 tanks, if you count all the artillery pieces and mortars, you get up to 12,000 units that can operate on the ground. and, of course, their air force is formidable, 800 aircraft out there including 200 helicopters. this is largely what they have used to have the strikes within gaza. if you look at hamas, their forces are much smaller in terms of their official forces, certainly. if you look at people really in uniform, soldiers, police, whatever you want to call it, about 12,500, and they have nothing like the weapons that the israelis have. however, palestinian militants have lots and lots of rockets. i want to bring in a model of one of them here. this is qassam-2. they're cheap, easy to make out of steel tubes, only way 70 to 100 pounds and fuld by

commercial grade fertilizer. if you go beyond to some of their more robust and better targeted rockets and missiles, then you start talking about range. in this conflict so far, we have reports of weapons fired from gaza, traveling as much as 50 miles to hit jerusalem and tel aviv. in fact, israeli officials now believe as much as fifth of the population of israel is subject to the rocket attacks, that's something they say they simply will not tolerate anymore and that's why we keep hearing all this talk and speculation about a possible ground invasion of gaza. good afternoon. i'm anderson cooper live in gaza city. we're going to be bringing you extensive coverage throughout this next hour from here in gaza city. also from jerusalem and our

correspondents who are all throughout the entire region. it is 3:00 in the east coast of the united states, 10:00 p.m. here in gaza city. it has been a very active day. we have seen continued rocket fire from forces inside gaza city. rockets throughout the day being fired toward israel, a number of those rockets have been intercepted. we also have seen a number of israeli strikes on targets here in gaza city. most notably several hours ago. the media center building, which is four blocks behind me, you can't see it now in the darkness, was hit by three israeli missiles that slammed into the lower floor, one of the lower floors of the building from different directions. we actually witnessed the initial impacts and i should point out, right now we just heard another explosion off in the distance, not a very loud one. you probably didn't pick it up on the camera, but now that darkness has fallen, we

anticipate this is generally when the number of explosions, the number of attacks seems to go up. that's the way it has been for the last six days since this conflict has escalated. the attack on what turned out to be the media center was actually the second attack we saw on that building on sunday. there had been -- the israeli defense forces say they targeted a hamas an ten why tenna on tha building. one member of islamic jihad was killed in this strike. another person who was in the building was also killed. so two people killed in that strike. one of them confirmed a member of islamic jihad. the response by first responders was very quick. we were on the scene very quickly as well. our ben wedeman was there and we'll talk to him in just a

moment. but, first, i want to go to our christiane amanpour, standing by in jerusalem, who has been covering this conflict for days now, who has been in jerusalem for days now. christiane, what have you been seeing there? what have you been hearing? >> well, obviously, anderson, everybody is hoping a ground invasion can be avoided so the real impetus now and the effort is on the cease-fire talks. we understand from israeli government official that the meeting of nine, if you like, is happening now. this sort of kitchen cabinet, the closest advisers and officials around prime minister benjamin netanyahu are meeting in jerusalem tonight to decide on the next moves. al jazeera is reporting the prime minister agreed to a 24-hour delay of any further escalation, agreed to the egyptians. now, we are not getting that confirmed or denied by israeli officials, however important to note that the u.n. secretary-general is coming here tomorrow and a delegation of arab league foreign ministers is

going to where you are in gaza. potentially this diplomacy might continue to play out over next 24 hours. i'm told by an israeli government official that they hope that the diplomatic tribe will prove successful. they're continuing with the military preparations as well. they call it the trigger is called -- they're ready to pull it if the diplomacy doesn't work and this evening, in fact, one official said that perhaps they might have to show the sword more clearly in order to energize the diplomacy. so you can see there is a lot of impetus happening, people want the diplomacy to work, we are just not sure whether it is even though we hear from the palestinian side that they are working very seriously and they are really wanting to have a cease-fire and egyptians are doing that work. anderson? >> christiane, is it clear at all at this point, and it may not be, what the parameters of any kind of cease-fire would be? >> well from the israeli point of view, what we're being told

by officials, is two very clear points. what they want is to make sure that, a, there are no rocket fire that goes into israel and particularly, you know, threatens that population in the southern israeli region, closest to gaza. they want to make sure there is no resupply of hamas weaponry via the tunnel system or whatever that border is closer to the side with egypt. those are big deals. they want not just, quote, a quickie cease-fire, but they want a longer commitment to a cease-fire, to, you know, to stop any kind of rocket fire from the palestinian, haumas side, what they want is a lifting of the siege, a commitment that israel stops targeting their high officials. so those are the things that are being discussed right now. and we wait to see whether there is a possibility of common ground that both sides can declare some kind of victory, if you like, and get off that exit

ramp. >> i'm told we have some sound from someone described as an unofficial israeli negotiator. let's listen. >> there are the real hard issues that have to be dealt with that i'm not sure the two sides are ready to make compromises on. and that is -- those involve an egyptian commitment to close the tunnels into gaza, so that hamas won't rearm itself, commitment of hamas to put the cease-fire on all the factions and to prevent terrorism attacks against israel and an israeli commitment to open up the gaza strip to the rest of the world ending the economic siege on gaza. >> and christiane continues to join me. i should point out we just heard a few distant booms here in gaza city. i can't really see any impact, so i'm not sure how far away they were or what kind of an impact they may have had. it seems while the talks are in effect, the likelihood of any kind of ground operation would be diminished. is that -- would that be correct

for you? >> well, that's what everybody is sitting on tender hooks waiting to see the israelis describe it as pursuing a dual track, they're getting their military ducks in order. they called up more than 70,000 resie reservists, 75,000 and they have tanks and materiel and troops waiting at the gaza border. a lost the roads are closed off around there. it is a closed military zone around that area. what is interesting also, though, is that the israeli military officials told me they feel they are having an impact in terms of reducing the amount of rocket fire coming out of gaza. even though there is this back and forth as you obviously can see in gaza, people in the southern part of israel can see, it continues, but israel believes it is reducing the number of rockets that is coming over. and, of course, there is intercepted quite a few of them with that iron dome. palestinians for their point tell us that, look, you know, any more of this kind of

killing, that leaves civilians dead, is going to further inflame the situation among the palestinians and make it more difficult to come to a quicker truce. so, you know, these are issues that, you know, while the talks may be going on, any number of things on the ground might derail them. so, again, we're just waiting to see how these talks resolve, but what we do know is that the united states is involved, president obama we have been told, even as he's in asia, has been calling both the prime minister of israel and the president of egypt to be updated and to give the u.s. point of view on all of this. but it is egypt who is taking the lead and all the u.s. and other officials are talking to the palestinians via the egyptians. >> christiane amanpour, appreciate it, we'll check in with you throughout the day and well into the night here on cnn. ben wedeman was early on the scene of the strike that we

witnessed earlier today. several hours today -- several hours earlier today on the media center, three rockets hitting a lower floor in that building according to israeli officials, killing one member of islamic jihad and palestinian sources on this side also verifying that. ben filed this report. take a look. >> reporter: about 3:20 in the afternoon we heard three large explosions. we saw a great big ball of flame coming out of the third floor. it appears to have been an israeli air strike. this is a building that contains the offices of a television station affiliated with the hamas movement. it also was hit the day before. apparently people in the building did get a phone call from the israeli military, telling them to leave. now, we did see at least one man

being taken out on a stretcher, by the ambulance services, that man was severely burned. we subsequently learned that he in fact was dead. they're still looking inside if there is anybody else who survived or was killed in the bombing and, of course, trying to put out the fire. >> that was a report from ben wedeman earlier. and ben wedeman joins me right now. that strike killed one member of islamic jihad according to israel and palestinian forces here. >> yes. and one other person apparently a christian store owner died of a heart attack as a result of that attack. but certainly not the first time that building was hit another time. and -- >> just on sunday. >> yes. and they received a warning in the building that the building would be hit. what happened is the journalists who were in the bulling left, stayed out for several hours, felt they needed to get back to work, went back in and that's when it was hit. >> do we know today how many

people were in the building or was it pretty empty. >> it was pretty empty. obviously a couple of people there, but it was not operating. >> in terms of the -- we have throughout the day seen rockets fired into israel. how sophisticated are the kinds of rockets? over the years, you've seen the rockets being fired up close, seen them being assembled, they're more sophisticated now. >> dramatically so. six years ago i went to a workshop where they were being made. they were crude, no guidance systems, very small warheads, stuffed full of jagged pieces of metal, rolled up in tape. now we're seeing bigger missiles, missiles that come from outside. they don't have sophisticated guidance systems, but they have a range that is far greater than what we saw before. obviously much higher lethality than they had before as well. >> how are the missiles getting in? >> they're getting through the tunnels. they're long missiles.

they have to be disassembled and brought in one by one. another significant change we're seeing is that where as before the rocket teams, the missile teams would go out in olive groves on the outskirts of gaza and also within the towns themselves, and put it on a tripod. they had three minutes to set it up, light it and run. now what they're doing is they're burying these automatic missile launchers that, as far as we know, are locally made, in the sand. somebody remotely presses a button, they go up and fire. so there is no longer that immediate risk to the people involved in launching the missiles. i think that's really one of the biggest changes as far as the missile systems that are being used. >> interesting. we'll continue to have more from ben throughout the day and the evening. ben, thank you very much. our coverage continues from gaza. also from the border towns in israel that have also been hard hit by some of these rockets. we're going to take a short break and our coverage continues in a moment.

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conflict here in gaza. we have reporters all throughout the region. we talked to christiane amanpour in jerusalem earlier. we'll talk to our correspondents on the israeli side of the border towns where people have continued to run from the barrage of rockets fired from gaza city and elsewhere in gaza over the last six days. our piers morgan talked to israel's president a short time ago. let's listen to some of what he said. >> obviously very serious situation that is escalating by the hour now. how do you see this resolving itself? >> well, there is also an attempt to introduce a cease-fire. we have to surprise us on the positive, the positive is the constructive wall that the egyptian president is playing right now. and we appreciate very much his efforts. the unpleasant one is the

iranians. they are trying again to encourage the hamas to continue their shooting, the bombing, they are trying to send the bombs. >> and our piers morgan joins us now. piers, did you get a sense of how likely any kind of a cease-fire, even short-term, may be? >> i didn't really. i'm not sure the president knew himself. i think it is a very fluid situation. it is interesting to me that he went out of his way to praise the egyptian president, clearly think believing he is leaning towards at least trying to help the israelis in this situation. at the same time, very, very strong and stride end about iran. he said he didn't believe it as a rumor, but a fact that iran is arming, training, and helping hamas in this campaign. and it says that until iran is stopped, then this will continue. so he clearly is trying to, i think, build up a sense of iran being behind all this, and egypt

perhaps being the peace brokers. i talked to him about the root problem here, clearly the plight of the palestinians in gaza. and i put it to him that, you know, it is all very well firing aimless rockets and which they do which they say is retaliation, the palestinians claim it is the other way around, and this has been going on, this vicious cycle for some time. listen to what he had to tell me about the plight of the people in gaza. it is quite interesting. >> well, we should suggest an alternative. we started with great restraint. in the last six days thousands, to hundreds missiles fall on our civil lives, on mothers and children. we tried today to address restraint, but we're trying our best not to hit any civilian on

the other side. but unfortunately war is war and they can't stop it. in one minute you stop shooting, there won't be any casualties. we should appreciate if one of our critics who suggests an alternative. what can we do? >> i think the critics would say that this particular strategy has proven over the last few years to be an unsuccessful one. and, in fact, all it achieves, because of the densely populated nature of the gaza strip in particular, it just ferments more hostility among the people towards israel and that, in the long-term, cannot be good for israel. and what needs to happen is some way to make the people of gaza feel less oppressed. >> we work with the people of gaza to try not to make their

lives difficult. gaza is open, the economic situation was improved and we don't know why all of a sudden despited to shoot. i'm not talking about civilian only, but the children. to shoot at 8:00 in the morning when the children go to the school, why? what for? i mean, it is not in our hand, you know, that -- for terrorism to fight terrorism. it is not a pleasant experience. and they don't care. they are producers of death. and without any consideration. >> what i was struck by there, anderson, was the fact that the president tried to make out there that there was no real blockade of gaza and a kind of economic prosperity. you're in that region now, i just don't sense that anyone in gaza believes either of those things. so there is a slight element of

denial, perhaps in a pr reason if nothing else, but there is a real danger here, i think, of people taking sides in that region. the reason i say that is the turkish prime minister, erdogan, said those who cess islam with terrorism close their eyes in the face of mass killing of muslims, turn their heads to the massacre of children in gaza. for this reason, i say that israel is a terrorist state and its acts are terrorist acts. so although, you know, president peres believes he has the egyptians on his side, and it may well be the case -- he has clearly not got a big problem with what is happening in turkey and others, and this could escalate very seriously. >> piers, we are going to have more with piers morgan on his program at 9:00 eastern time tonight. we'll have more of that interview. piers, appreciate talking to you. we're going to take another quick break. more from gaza, more about the possibility of some sort of truce in the short-term, a cease-fire and what that might

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welcome back to our continuing coverage. we're live in gaza city. night has fallen here, traditionally the time when the attacks increase. we have not heard anything just in the last ten minutes or so. but the steady sound of that -- those drones circling overhead continues as it has since this conflict began. it is a sound, it is ever present in -- over the skies over gaza. we have various correspondents all throughout this region. we're going to shortly talk with fred pleitgen on the israeli si side of the border where many of the rockets fired across the border have hit. they don't have the long range that some of these more sophisticated rockets that are here, most rockets are shorter range, fall in the areas along ashkelon and other places along the israeli border where they have become sadly and unfortunately very used to running from rockets and seeking shelter. they have a good early warning

system and we'll talk about that. we have seen a number of the rockets being intercepted by the israeli defenses. we'll show you some of that video. but our reza sayah spent time on the egyptian side of the egyptian gaza border. supplies are often smuggled in on the egyptian side from tunnels, not only regular supplies for people here and weaponry as well. that's how some of the longer range, more sophisticated rockets have been smuggled in. reza was there earlier today. >> reporter: we're at the rafah border acrossing where egypt's border meets gaza. gaza is a very small piece of land, about twice the size of washington, d.c. it has four gateways, three inside israel. they're pretty much blocked off in an effort by israel to choke off gaza. this is the only one that leads from gaza into an arab ally. that's egypt.

while the air assault continues, in gaza, while the violence increases, what is increased here is the anger by egyptians who want egypt and the government to step up and intervene. >> the people ve changed. we have changed and we're not going to take that for -- we're not going to wait for the government to move, we're going to take things in our hand and we're going to lead the government into certain position that is required for egypt. >> there is roughly 500 protesters here. they made a seven-hour journey from cairo. they have lined up down the street. each of them are showing their identifications to security forces, and then heading into gaza. we have asked them when do you think you'll come back? they say, we don't know. we're just happy we're going in. are you scared? >> yeah. i mean, absolutely i'm scared. you hear bombs. you don't know what you're going in there for but i think that's -- i think that's what we got to do. you have to be scared and overcome that fear by going in there. >> reporter: as more demonstrators continue to file into gaza, back in cairo, the

arab league, a group of 22 arab states announced that on tuesday they're going to send in more than two dozen arab foreign ministers into gaza. this is part of the arab league's push to publicly stand with the palestinians. also in cairo, egypt spy chief, in talks, with hamas officials and israeli officials trying to establish a cease-fire. this is the same spy chief that in 2011 helped secure the release of israeli soldier, gilad shalit. many say if there is going to be a cease-fire, israel's spy chief will play a key role. reza sayah, cnn at the rafah border crossing. >> that was the scene earlier from our correspondent reza sayah. wasn i want to go to atlanta where deborah feyerick is standing by with hala gorani, more information about a possible cease-fire. >> we have been monitoring the cease-fire negotiations to see who -- what players are at the table and specifically what they're talking about. and hala gorani from cnn

international joins us. you've been following it. what are you learning now? >> i've been speaking with someone in cairo, familiar with the negotiations ongoing there. when i spoke with the government spokesperson an hour and a half ago on cnn international, he wouldn't confirm if there was even an israeli delegation in cairo. i got it through the reliable source there is indeed currently in cairo an israeli delegation, the way it works, deborah, is that the israeli delegation will discuss possible ideas with the egyptians who are very much involved in all of this and want to contain it as did our neighbors and then the egyptians will talk with hamas representatives and officials and the hope is that eventually all these discussions will lead to some sort of deal so there is a cease-fire in place to stop the rocket attacks going. >> and the area we're talking about, this is egypt, cairo, egypt, israel and gaza. let's touch here and you've got gaza and this is the area we're talking about. this is where the rockets are being fired into israel, israel

firing back into gaza. this whole area, which is in contention, what do the israelis need to accept a cease-fire and what are you learning do the hamas organization -- what do they need? >> the leader of hamas held a press conference in cairo and said, essentially, the aerial strikes need to stop, the targeted assassinations need to stop and the blockade of the territory needs to stop as well. as far as israelis are concerned, they're saying the rocket attacks need to stop, not just the lull, we need this to be a permanent deal. we also need to be able to feel the population in the southern part of the our country is secure. the two sides publicly are far apart. but right now, what is interesting is that about an hour ago, we understood from the government spokesperson mark regev there was a cabinet me meeting designed to discuss some of the ideas being floated this is significant. why? it means the door isn't closed. they're still talking right now. however, i spoke with a palestinian representative, as well, who said, look, 48 hour window here, extremely decisive.

if there is a deal in the 48-hour window, then we can say, with more confidence that a ground assault is more probable. >> that's why everybody is on edge and that's what everybody is looking for. hala gorani, thank you so much. back to you, anderson. all eyes on whether the troops that are stationed at the borders now, whether they're going to be walking in. anderson? >> and all eyes, i can tell you here in gaza city, throughout the day, on the sky. both at rockets being fired toward israel, which has continued throughout the day, i personally saw probably a dozen or so rockets being fired throughout the day, and also all eyes on the skies for strikes by israeli aircraft, drones, or artillery on targets throughout gaza city and elsewhere throughout gaza. when we come back, we'll take a short break, but when we come back, want to show you iron dome in action. the israeli air defense system, which has stopped and shot down a number of incoming rockets over israeli air space. we'll show you that when we come

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and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. welcome back. i'm anderson cooper live in gaza city. all throughout this hour, during the commercial break, actually, we heard quite a large explosion here in gaza city, probably the largest we have heard in the last several hours. no visible sign from where i'm standing of what the impact actually was. so it is probably on the other side of the building where i'm at. we have been hearing obviously explosions all throughout the day and we have also been hearing and seeing very often you see them, before you hear them, rockets being fired from hamas forces and from other forces here in gaza city toward israel. now, israel says that more than a thousand rockets have been fired in the last six days of

this conflict toward israel. they say they have been able to intercept more than a third of those rockets and the interceptor with a system called iron dome. fred pleitgen along the israel side of the gaza border in towns like ashkelon and elsewhere, he got an up close look at how iron dome works. take a look. >> reporter: a kill that possibly saved lives on the ground. this video shows an iron dome missile intercepting a rocket fired from gaza at tel aviv on sunday. the defense system had just been installed in israel's largest city a few hours earlier. several days into the conflict, it is already clear the iron dome is having a big impact picking off hundreds of rockets. i got a tour of the israel aircraft industries plant that installs the system. this doctor is one of those in charge. one key element is an advanced

radar. >> the radar searches, locates, tracks, and intercepts and guides the intercepting missiles within several seconds, few seconds within the launching time. >> reporter: it is extremely hard to shoot down short distance rockets like the ones coming out of gaza, in part because they're not in the air long enough for older radar systems to lock on to them. >> the target is moving extremely fast. when you want to intercept it, you have to work -- you have to move faster with more agility, with more maneuvering power, relative to your target. >> reporter: the iron dome was only put into service in 2011. it isn't a perfect solution. this is the aftermath of a rocket strike in a town of ashkelon. one of the rockets that hit ashkelon actually came here and hit this carport and as you can see, did substantial damage to the car as well.

the iron dome system has been billed as a game changer in this conflict. but as hits like this one show, it cannot intercept all the rockets that are coming at israel from gaza. still, israel's military says it is very happy with the performance of the interceptor system. >> rockets we want down, we usually down. usually these rockets are the ones who are sent or launched from the gaza strip from the terrorist factions, towards bigger cities where you have more people living. we usually down them, but it is not a 100% solution unfortunately. >> reporter: so the engineers at the assembly plant are working extra hours to assemble more iron dome batteries for immediate deployment. fred pleitgen, cnn, ashkelon, israel. >> all those rockets on the israeli side make regular life very difficult if not impossible at times. here in gauze why as weza, peop hunkered down. we'll talk with arwa damon who spent a lot of time in this

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welcome back. i'm anderson cooper live in gaza city. a little bit last night, about 24 hours ago, around this time, and i should point out as night falls, traditionally that's the time we see the israeli strikes, seem to escalate, the fact that israelis have far superior night abilities obviously than the rocket units here in gaza do, so the israelis really use the night to their advantage as much as possible. we saw a number of large strikes last night. we were on the air, actually, as one of them occurred. take a look.

in that blast, we know ten members of one family and two media centers built -- whoa! that was a rather large explosion. that occurred -- just look out here, i can't actually see where the impact of that was, it is actually set off a number of car alarms, but that was probably the largest explosion we have heard just in the past -- turns out what was hit then and we went in the light of day to actually look at the scene was a police station here in -- locals said the station was still being built, so it was actually not occupied at the time. they say two local people were wounded. but obviously was not full at the time since it was still under construction. that was just one of the blasts we heard last night. we heard blasts obviously throughout the day. i want to bring in cnn's arwa damon who has spent a lot of time looking at what life is like for people here in the last six days.

it is remarkable because you don't see people out on streets. people are basically hiding in their homes as much as possible. >> they are. and that's the odd thing. we covered plenty of war zones in these situations when you don't see people in the streets, when you seat shops are closed up, you naturally assume they have somehow fled to a safer place. the reality is the vast majority of the population cannot leave. they are not allowed to. the isz reraelis won't allow hto cross into israel. they have have to try to stay s. in the first two days of the strikes, the prices skyrocketed, but then people began adjusting to the new reality, so then they slowly normalized. people realized the ground invasion was not going to be happening right away. but that being said, in other parts of the city people can't get these basic things. we met a woman who hitched a ride in an ambulance to try to get to this particular market so they could feed her 11 children.

>> you speak arabic fluently, obviously. you're able to talk to people easily. what is the sentiment, what is the mood? there is a lot of anger, there is a lot of frustration, fear. what are you hearing from them? >> there is also a certain sense of resignation. this is obviously trag abically nothing new. these two sides have been clashing for decades now. there is this overriding sense too, almost every single person who has spoken to this has mentioned this, they want peace, they want this to be over they want this entire conflict to come to an end, they want to be able to live with dignity, like normal human beings, people here feel as if they're effectively living in this massive prison. and feel as if it is their basic right to have a semblance of a normal life, normal opportunities that so many people do have in other parts of the world. >> it interesting depending which side of the border you're on how people view the conflict and who is responsible for the

conflict. >> absolutely. and the two perspectives are complete and total polar opposites and both sides are just as equally convinced in the fact that they are the ones who are correct, that they're the ones who are the victims of this conflict, so you effectively have two populations, each feels they're being victimized in this, each that feels they have this right to defend themselves and each is also fighting for self-preservation. when you have that kind of a situation, that has been developing for decades, again, it is incredibly difficult to try to bring these two sides together, to find that critical middle ground that would be necessary to bring about an end to all of this. >> even if there is a cease-fire this immediate conflict that has gone on now for six days, the question of a long-termer term road map for a peace settlement seems very far away. >> most definitely. >> our coverage continues. we have a lot more ahead. stay tuned. [ male announcer ] are you considering a new medicare plan? then you may be looking for help in choosing the right plan for your needs.

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welcome back to our continuing coverage of the situation here in gaza and also the situation in israel. and, today, again, we have seen continued rocket fire from gaza city, toward israel and continued strikes by israeli forces here in gaza city as well. most notably a strike for the second day in a row on a building that houses a number of media groups, also according to israeli defense forces housed an office belonging to a member of islamic jihad, that person was killed in the strike according to israeli forces and the israeli defense forces and palestinian sources. we actually saw the rockets slamming into that building. israeli forces hit the building yesterday, saying they were targeting a hamas antenna. today the strike was on the second floor, three rockets slamming from different directions into the second floor, killing two people, one of them that islamic jihad member, which is considered a terrorist group, one of the groups operating here besides

hamas here in gaza city. i want to talk to bobby gauche, editor at large for "time" magazine. he joins us from new york. it is interesting, i was here back in 2008-2009 when there was a ground offensive into gaza city. the situation in terms of the geopolitical situation has changed a lot now for hamas and for israel, given the arab spring. how does that impact decisions now on the ground here? >> nobody seems to have any serious ability to exercise any control over either of the two parties. the united states now has taken a sort of back seat to the conflict saying only that israel has a right to defend itself primarily and on the arab spring side, you have a lot of new faces, but they haven't demonstrated they have any more influence over what hamas does than mubarak did or any of the dictators that these governments have replaced. so you have a situation where you have two sides fighting and nobody has the ability to tell either of them, listen, it is

time to stop fighting and start talking. and to start getting a dialogue going. there is no intermediary who can step in and get either of them to >> so what does that tell you about the chances for some sort of short-term cease-fire, the media conflict and most important of all, a longer roadmap to some sort of peace agreement? >> judging by the rhetoric coming out today, the chances don't look awfully good, anderson. we know there have been cease-fire discussions taking place with egyptian mediation in cairo. but earlier today, the head of hamas, said a cease-fire could happen tomorrow or never. and he shared a fairly belligerent statement daring israel to send land troops into gaza. that is not the kind of language you expect to hear from someone who's looking for an end to the violence. so the prospects of a quick cease-fire don't look terribly good.

in the long term, the situation seems desperate. unlike previous conflicts, there is not an actual functioning peace process in which the parties can go back to. so a new process essentially needs to be created now and neither side is in the mood to start that. >> bobby, appreciate you being on the program. thank you so much. >> you guys stay safe. when we come back, we want to look at life for kids in this region under fire, both on the israeli side and also here in gaza. imagine growing up a child used to the sound of drones overhead and rockets landing where you live. we'll be right back.

welcome back to our continuing coverage. we're live in gaza city. we all know what it must be like or can imagine what it's like for adults to live here in gaza or the israeli side of the border. but imagine what it is like for children who may not understand the conflict at large, if it can be really understood. i want to check in with a man who's with the group save the children here in gaza city. what are you seeing in terms of conditions for kids here? >> the situation, anderson, is very critical at the moment. you are in gaza and you can't experience the daily air strikes.

the continuation of air strikes, the continuation of bombings puts children in a state of fear 24/7. it's a lot of tension on the children themselves. that's why we are deeply concerned about the children of isra israel. >> what kind of needs do the kids here have? do they have enough food, enough water, enough medical supplies? >> because of the current situation, because of the security situation, the [ inaudible ] -- >> unfortunately, answer here are rough, sometimes even during

the best of times. this is certainly not one of the best of times. we're having trouble maintaining the audio with our guest. we'll try to fix that. we'll take a quick break. more coverage from here and from israel.

welcome back to our continuing coverage from this region, live right now in gaza city. we've been trying to get in touch from our correspondent fred pleitgen, we're having trouble making that connection. as you can imagine, it's a very fluid situation right now. but we hope to have his report in the next hour. want to show you the weapons both sides are using right now in this conflict, which is now on the sixth day entering into the seventh day. take a look. here's tom forman. >> globalfirepower.com has called israel the tenth most powerful military in the world. let's see why.

they have compulsory military service. that means every young person must go into the military for a while. 176,000 active troops are available and they have about 500,000 that they can call up from reserves very quickly. ground forces, also impressive. some 3,000 tanks, if you count all the artillery pieces and mortars, you get up to about 12,000 units that can operate on the ground. and their air force is formidable. about 800 aircraft out there including some 200 helicopters. this is largely what they've used to have these strikes within gaza. if you look at hamas, their forces are much smaller in terms of their official forces, certainly f. you look at people who are really in uniform, soldiers, police, whatever you want to call it, about 12,500. and they have nothing like the weapons the israelis have. but palestinian militants do have lots and lots of rockets. and i want to bring in a model of one of them here. this is a qasem 2.